144 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
It will be noted that the above figures include only the fish regularly marketed 
and their first value to the fishermen. They do not take into account the immense 
quantities (in the aggregate) taken by anglers for their private use nor the very 
considerable number of fish too small for market that are incidentally destroyed in 
the net fisheries. Nor is the tribute yielded by these fish on their journey from the 
hands of the fishermen to the hands of the ultimate consumers included in the 
figures. This sum will often amount to from three to ten times the first value. In 
addition must be considered the many thousands of dollars spent for tackle, trans- 
portation, bait, boat hire, and board and lodging by an ever-increasing army of 
salt-water anglers, most of whom come from the large cities and for whom the 
squeteague, king whiting, red drum, black drum, croaker, and spot form the chief 
incentives to this expenditure. 
Anything like an accurate estimate of the total quantities taken and of the 
aggregate values represented is impossible when all the above factors are taken into 
consideration, and it can only be pointed out that the interests depending wholly or 
in part upon the fishes of the family Scisenidse are exceedingly large and varied. 
In view of the great importance of this family of fishes, alike of value to the 
market fishermen, the distributors, the consuming public, and the angler, it is hoped 
that the fragmentary observations recorded in this paper may form a nucleus for 
more thorough study of the group. An adequate knowledge of the life histories 
and ecology of these species would be of great value in relation to many problems 
of conservation that are certain to arise in the near future. 
The responsibility for any errors and shortcomings that may be present in this 
paper is assumed by the junior author, and he desires to refrain from sharing in any 
credit for the analyses of the larger questions involved, as they are almost entirely 
the result of years of study on the part of the senior author. The untimely death 
of Mr. Welsh, whose loss is keenly felt from a personal standpoint as well as from the 
standpoint of his value to the United States Bureau of Fisheries and science gener- 
ally, militates largely against the value of the present paper. Many of the data are 
more or less incomplete, since the tables as given here had been tentatively prepared 
by Mr. Welsh before his death, and it has been impossible for the junior author to 
undertake the task of again examining the original material and preparing the tables 
in the more complete form that Mr. Welsh would undoubtedly have preferred. The 
foregoing introduction and. the following general discussion emanated solely from 
his pen. The additions since his demise have been the notes on food of the various 
species, the key to identification, the treatment of Pogonias and subsequent species, 
and various notes inserted throughout the body of the paper. 
Figures 16 to 19 were drawn by Mrs. E. B. Decker; 2 to 10, by Templeton Van 
de Bogert; and 1, 13, 15, 22, 33, 35 to 37, 39, 40, 42, 44, 46 to 54, and 56, by Charles 
M. Breder, jr. Figures 11 and 12 are reprinted from Tracy (1908); all remaining 
figures, from previous bulletins of the United States Bureau of Fisheries. Measure- 
ments throughout the paper are given in metric units, followed by their approxi- 
mation in the English system in those cases that have a general interest. The total 
length is referred to, except where the standard length is specifically mentioned. 
